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School violence

Some in Newtown want gunman’s house razed

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoAP file photoNeighbors would like to see some of the money donated to Sandy Hook victims’ families used to buy the house where Adam Lanza killed his mother before the 2012 school shootings.

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HARTFORD, Conn. — Some Newtown residents are calling for the Sandy Hook Elementary School
shooter’s home to be torn down and replaced with a park or nature preserve, according to a new
community survey.

The Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation received more than 1,600 responses to the survey it
released this week on town residents’ unmet needs in the wake of the December 2012 shootings. The
foundation has been deciding how to distribute more than $11 million in donations made in response
to the shootings, which left 20 first-graders and six educators dead.

While most of the survey responses said money for mental-health counseling and other family
expenses are top priorities, a small percentage of community members mentioned funds to buy and
tear down Adam Lanza’s home, said Jennifer Barahona, the foundation’s executive director. She said
several people who live near the Lanza house said in the survey that it should be razed.

The house in Newtown is where Lanza, 20, lived with his mother, Nancy Lanza, and shot her to
death before the school killings. It’s about 5 miles from the school, which has been demolished as
part of the plan to put a new building on the same property. Adam Lanza killed himself at the
school as police arrived.

Nancy Lanza’s property remains tied up in probate court proceedings. After her death, it was
turned over to her ex-husband, Peter Lanza, and their other son, Ryan, according to court
documents. Town records show the 3,200-square-foot colonial home and 2-acre property has an
appraised value of about $524,000.

“There really is nothing we can do,” Barahona said. “The estate is in probate and it’s likely to
be there for years to come. I also imagine there would be lawsuits against the estate at some
point.”

There have been no talks among town officials about buying the property or doing anything with
it, First Selectman Pat Llodra’s office said.

The Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation has about $4 million left after giving more than $7
million to the 40 families most affected by the shootings.